IT certainly looked as if the Phil Mickelson worshippers who longed for him to be a fitting challenger to Tiger Woods were finally seeing their dreams fulfilled. Mickelson claimed his first major at the 2004 Masters, nearly won the U.S. Open at Shinnecock, and finished third at the British Open. A 59 at the PGA Grand Slam in December led to three wins to start 2005.

But the wheels are off the bandwagon now, leaving the Phil Fanatics scratching their heads wondering what the heck has happened to their hero.

Mickelson hasn’t won since the BellSouth Classic the week before the 2005 Masters, where a 10th-place finish relegated him to handing Woods his fourth green jacket. More troubling, Mickelson was awful at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, where he tied for 33rd, and at the British Open at St. Andrews, where an opening-round 74 and a final-round 76 left him tied for 60th.

It may be too strong to say Mickelson comes to the 87th PGA Championship at Baltusrol looking to redeem himself, but he certainly is feeling a sense of urgency to halt his majors slide.

A win here, Mickelson said, “Could certainly make my perception of the way I feel about my performance in the four majors do a 180 [degree turn] this year. But I wouldn’t wrap up the whole year into how I played in the four majors because starting the year I felt that I had achieved a couple of things in my game that I had been wanting to do for a while. I feel like there were some good strides taken in 2005.”

Perhaps, but at age 35, Mickelson shouldn’t settle for strides; he needs to win more majors or forever be considered a one-shot wonder. For what’s it’s worth, Mickelson appeared bubbling with confidence yesterday during an interview session, giddy over his 10th-place finish at the International last week in Colorado, his first outing since St. Andrews.

“Even though I didn’t play my best, to have a 10th place and to hit some shots at times even though I was a little rusty, I feel like I learned a lot last week and I’m trying to carry it over this week,” Mickelson said.

He hasn’t spent much time dwelling on why he hasn’t contended for a major this year. A final round 74 ruined him at Augusta, a second-round 77 proved his undoing at Pinehurst, and his putting was woeful at St. Andrews.

“If you look statistically, my putting has been the one area on these quick fast greens in the majors that has not been to the same level as last year,” he said.

Mickelson is one of the Big Four that was talked about ad nauseam at the start of the year only to see Woods win two of the three majors and finish second at the U.S. Open.

It’s the Big One again, though Mickelson bristled at that notion.

“Certainly his wins would lead anybody to feel that way, but as a player and competitor, I don’t really subscribe to that,” he said.

Still, it’s Tiger’s world until Mickelson can give his legions of fans something to cheer about again.